Everything you wanted to know about UUA General Assembly… and more!

June 19, 2017

The Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations (UUA) has an annual business meeting known as General Assembly (GA), which takes place June 21-25 in New Orleans. At this many-faceted gathering, attendees participate in awesome worship, hear remarkable speakers as well as business reports, sing (a lot!), and participate in Social Justice projects. Those who are delegates representing our congregations also vote on business matters and periodically on elected officials. This year we elect a president for a 6-year term. The best source of information is online as www.uua.org/ga.

Even if you are not attending General Assembly as a delegate this year, there are a few events that you can participate in remotely for free or reduced cost registration, including:

Free public events being streamed live in the General Session Hall. Many will also be posted for viewing afterwards. Events include the Welcoming Celebration, morning worship each day, General Sessions, the Service of the Living Tradition, public witness, the Presidential Candidates Forum, Synergy Bridging Worship, the Ware Lecture by Bryan Stevenson, Sunday morning worship, the Closing Celebration, and more.

The rest of this article focuses on the choices that our voting delegates will make. Our delegates, who have been selected by our Board, include Marge Link, Judy Edmonston, Jessica Lin, Erin Edgar, and Larry and Jerri Meisner. (Erin, Larry and Jerri will be attending remotely.)

The “big ticket” item is voting for our Association’s next President. Three candidates are in contention, all of whom have published statements and two-page ads in the Summer 2017 issue of UUWorld.

In addition, there will be elections for members of the Board of Review, Board of Trustees, Commission on Appraisal, Commission on Social Witness, GA Planning Committee, and Nominating Committee. All of these seats are unopposed.

Two proposed proposed changes to our bylaws include the following:

Change “every person” to ‘every being” in our 1st Principle, which currently affirms and promotes “the inherent worth and dignity of every person”. This proposed change affirms explicitly that individuals of other species merit our compassionate consideration. Important critiques of this change have emerged from marginalized communities within our Association, including the following critique offered by Rev. Theresa Ines Soto.

Change “prophetic men and women” to “prophetic people” in our 2nd Source, which currently affirms the influence of “words and deeds of prophetic women and men which challenge us to confront powers and structures of evil with justice, compassion, and the transforming power of love”. This proposed change will move from women and men gender binary language to reflect more gender neutral and inclusive terminology.

Archives

Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Raleigh

Online Fundraising Projects

Learn more about how you can support UUFR when you shop.

MyUUFR

Use the "MyUUFR" portal to make a contribution to UUFR, view your giving history, or update your address, phone, email, personal or family photo, or other information in the Fellowship's membership database.